It’s daunting, isn’t it? You see all the beautifully designed rooms in magazines and on TV and Pinterest, but you just can’t seem to get it right when you tackle your own home.

Not everyone is blessed with the ability to visualize a paint color or a piece of furniture in their space, but that shouldn’t keep you from having your very own perfect space to come home to. New mashups between interior decorating and 3D home design are making it easier for anyone to escape inspiration overload and get the room they really want. Design doesn’t have to be daunting; now it can be easy and fun for anyone.

Thinking about designing your space but not sure where to start? Read on to learn 4 ways 3D home design can make designing your space so much easier.

1. See Everything to Scale

It used to be that two-dimensional mood boards were an interior designer’s standard way of showing off their vision.

The problem is that, while it all looks great on the mood board, there’s no sense of scale between the pieces in your space and you still don’t really know how they will all look together in real life.

For example, what may look like a nice little side table in your mood board, could turn out to be way too big for the chair next to it. Or the fabric you picked for the new sofa, which looked great as a swatch, might clash with the rug you chose.

With 3D home design, you see your exact chair paired with the exact lamp and exact side table, no guessing required.

2. Know How It Looks in Your Space

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could try on sofas like you try on clothes? Unfortunately, instead of just taking a few items into a dressing room, you’d have to rent a moving van, max out all your credit cards to buy all the sofas you’re considering, and then spend all day moving them in and out of your home. Yikes!

With Modsy, a designer can help you try them on in your home in 3D – no heavy lifting required.

Kevin used Modsy to see how a leather sofa would look in his living room. Check out Kevin’s full story, and learn how he designed his awkward living room using Modsy’s 3D home design services!

Not only do you see the sofa you want (in your chosen color, size, and shape, of course!), but you can see how it will look and fit in your exact room. Does the upholstery color clash a bit with your wall color? You can find out before you spend a penny on paint and hours applying it to your walls.

3. Shop Directly From Your Designs

You know that moment when you fall in love with a rug or credenza on Pinterest and try to buy it, but it’s nowhere to be found? Or you buy what you think is the perfect piece, take it home and realize it just doesn’t work?

All that trauma can be avoided when you design and shop your home in 3D with Modsy. No more wondering where that perfect lamp came from, you can buy any piece in your design on the spot!

4. Get Your Room Exactly How You Want It

Probably the most exciting benefit of Modsy’s 3D home design service, is that you don’t have to play it safe because you’re not sure something will look in your space.

When you can see furniture in your home, you can feel confident in your choices because you know EXACTLY what they look like before you spend a small fortune. That gives you the freedom to try styles and piece you might not otherwise have thought you’d like. Get crazy with a green velvet sofa, try a new wall color just because, and even see how a totally new layout can transform your space – all without lifting a finger.

Ready to try 3D home design for yourself?

With 3D home design, you can take the time and guesswork out of designing a space you love. With Modsy, you can come back to your designs a month or even a year later. No matter if you’re turning a home office into a nursery or simply want to upgrade your sofa – Modsy’s here to help you see the changes.

My partner and I are finally moving in together and I couldn’t be happier! We are both so excited, but the other day we were boxing up all of our belongings and it dawned on me that I absolutely can’t stand his taste in furniture, and he said the same about mine…

How can we somehow stuff our two very different styles into one space? Is it possible to design our home together without one of us hating it or both of us going insane?

Please help,Couple of Sofas

Dear Couple of Sofas,

First, congratulations! Second, know that you are not alone with this struggle!

While the hardest part of moving in with your significant other might seem like sharing a bathroom, for many couples the greatest – and most unanticipated – challenge is actually designing their new shared space.

Moving in with a significant other is a big life event, so it’s understandable that it might stir up some anxiety. Couple that with the stress of purchasing furniture that meets both of your styles and budgets, and you really have a recipe for potential conflict.

Before you spend a miserable afternoon fighting over a rug in IKEA, read these 4 tips on how to combine design styles peacefully and create a space you both love.

1. Make a Game Plan

Before you get caught up in the design details, have a conversation with your partner about what each of you value in your home.

What do you want to use the space for? What are your must-haves and your hard-nos? And where are you willing to compromise?

Hash out these details before you talk specifics, and find the points that you both agree on. Then begin to make style choices together that lead you toward this common goal for your home.

2. Plan to Purge Equally

Upon moving in together you will likely have double the furniture that you can fit and will need to decide what to keep and what to toss. And while you might have better taste than your partner, they likely think the same things about your choice of furniture as well.

Instead of hashing out whose stuff moves into the new place and whose gets left on the side of the road, agree to purge equally and only take the good stuff.

This can mean going through items piece-by-piece and deciding whose is in better condition or will work better in your new place. Take a critical look at knick knacks as well, and consider only displaying the ones that are meaningful to both of you. Or, consider scrapping it all and only taking what you absolutely need to furnish your new place for the short-term.

This is your opportunity for a fresh start, so the goal of your purge should be to take what works, and leave the rest behind so you can begin to design a space that both of you love.

3. Explore Your Styles

Once you’ve cleared away your old furniture, you can begin to explore styles that speak to both of you for your new home together.

The first thing we recommend to couples is that they take the Modsy Style Quiz together.Understanding each other’s tastes can help you think about how to merge them together into one look (yes, we promise it is possible!).

She likes mid-century modern but he likes industrial? Try looking for pieces with a modern shape but in raw materials, like leather and metals, to satisfy you both. His style is glamorous but his is minimal? Maybe stick to a minimal color palette but play with more glam materials like velvet and gold.

There are so many ways to mix and match even the most opposite of styles. Find what you both like and where you can start to merge your tastes together.

4. Show off Your Ideas

Sometimes the best way to convince your partner that a certain style or piece of furniture will look good in your space, is to show them.

Create a visual representation of your ideas to show your partner, be that a Modsy rendering of your actual home, a moodboard, or ordering fabric samples and paint swatches.

Many customers tell us that they were able to try something new after showing their significant other a Modsy rendering of how a new coffee table, bold sofa, or different layout would look in their space.

Visualizing your ideas can help you both feel more confident about your design choices, which in turn helps relieve the stress of making big-ticket purchases.

For most homeowners, a total design revamp of their space is the ultimate dream. But the reality is that making design updates to any a space are a major undertaking.

Couple this with the fact that if you’re not moving into a new home, your space might already be “designed” (albeit maybe not well) with furniture and decor collected over time.

Instead of trying to overhaul an entire room at once – which is expensive and requires a lot of time and effort – consider making a series of key design updates to your already decorated space. This approach begs the question: Where do I start?

Tackling all the design updates you want to make at once can feel overwhelming. To help, we gathered some expert tips from our Modsy designers on what they think is the best approach to making practical and stylish (and manageable) updates to your spaces, one step at a time.

Read on to learn how to avoid home design headaches and steal our step-by-step guide to making design updates in your home!

Step 1: Assess What’s Not Working

When updating any space in your home, always start by asking yourself the crucial question: What’s not working?

Knowing this will help you zero in on what you should update in your space, and – if it’s multiple things – help you prioritize which to tackle first.

If it’s your layout…

Try to pinpoint what you ultimately want out of your space. For example, do you need a more multifunctional set-up because you have small children running around? Or is it that you want to create a seating area that’s more conducive to conversation and hosting friends?

Take your time when considering how you’ll be using your space, as this decision can help you think about what kinds of major design updates and furniture purchases you’ll need to make.

If it’s your furniture…

Think about why your existing pieces aren’t working. Let’s say, for example, your sofa just isn’t comfy enough. It could be that your TV stand is just a little too tall. Or, simply, you don’t have enough places to set down a drink!

Get specific about what it is about your furniture that’s no longer suiting your space.

If it’s your room’s style…

Try honing in on specifics and start there. Is your space lacking in color? Are you looking for prettier, more grown-up furnishings? Or are you simply trying to figure out what your style is?

If it’s the latter, our Modsy Style Quiz can help provide some guidance. Regardless, keep your focus simple and straightforward in terms what you feel is stylistically missing.

Step 2: Set a Long-Term Goal

Once you’ve identified the focus for your design updates, set a long term goal for your space and backtrack to where you are right now.

If your goal is to set up your room with better flow…

Think about how you’d ideally like people to interact and move around in your space. This will help you plan the best layout for your room.

If your aim is to upgrade your existing furnishings…

Have a clear end goal in mind. Whether it’s swapping in bigger, comfier seating or adding a nicer coffee table, knowing what your ideal space looks like will help you plan how to get there.

If you’re working with a Modsy Designer, they can help you create a checklist and work through your design updates in the order and timeframe that makes sense.

If you’re hoping to up your style game in your room…

Consider the mood and overall ambience you want to create, which will give you a sense of the types of details and furnishings you need to look for to update your space.

Knowing where you want to end up is a great way to guide the choices you make now to update your space.

Step 3: Start With One Main Focus

Don’t panic if your answer to the previous questions ended up being ‘everything needs updating’ or ‘more than one thing needs help.’ It’s natural for all the small things to pile up, but don’t let it distract you. Stay on track by laser-focusing on one problem that is most pertinent or has been persisting the longest.

If you’re focused on creating a better layout…

Try to discern if there’s a piece that’s currently throwing off the arrangement in your space and consider if it’s needed still or not.

It’s important to be honest with yourself here if a piece simply does not fit in with your space and is keeping you from achieving the ideal layout in your end goal – this could be a sofa that you’ve had forever but is just slightly too big, or chairs that have nowhere else to go in your home.

If you’re keen on updating your furniture…

But your sofa, armchairs, TV stand, and layout all need rethinking, start by figuring out how you can update the biggest item, which is often your sofa. Then use your sofa as guide to move on to the next big furniture problem.

In this instance, solve for your furniture first rather than trying to find the best sofa and create the best layout at the same time. This will help you slowly build towards your end goal for your space.

If you’re fine-tuning the style in a space…

Pick an aesthetic angle to help guide you. Color is often a great starting point here, so take a little time to land on a color palette that will provide the ambience you’re hoping to create in your space.

Step 4: Don’t Get Discouraged

At this point, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and distracted as one thing feels like it needs to work with another. Keep tackling one issue at a time and using each solution to inform your next decision.

Step 5: Continue With the One-By-One Approach

Eventually, you’ll have made some decisions about your space and have updated all and any big items.

Then, turn your focus to smaller problem areas or pieces and go through the same vetting process. This is where you might focus on pillows for the sofa or art for one wall or what goes on the coffee table.

Or perhaps you’re now figuring out where a chair might go; find a place for the chair and try it out before moving on. Gradually, your original vision for your room will begin to take shape.

Step 6: See It All Together Before Buying

Finally, it can help to see all your ideas come to life in your space, before you make the purchase plunge. This is also a great time to make sure measurements, sizing and style all come together for a cohesive look.

It can be helpful to moodboard your ideas or try a Modsy design package to see photo-real images of your designs in your exact room.

Making design updates is no simple feat, but with a starting point (and some patience) you can bring your updated vision to life over time.

Need help making design updates to your Space?

When you begin a home design project, the first thing most people do is scour Pinterest and design blogs for inspiration. But often, before you know it, you have hundreds of ideas and images, but no clue how to translate them to real life.

How do you avoid getting overwhelmed by inspiration for your home design project? Here are 4 steps to getting unstuck and translating your Pinterest boards to reality.

Step #1: Filter your inspiration

Open your home design Pinterest board, look at the individual images you’ve saved, and ask yourself “What about this image do I like?”

If you like the furniture, keep it.

If you like the layout, keep it.

If you like the architecture or the physical room, get rid of it.

The Point: Don’t get stuck on details that you cannot replicate in your own home. If what you’re really lusting over is the beautiful lighting and floor to ceiling windows, you’re setting yourself up to be disappointed in what you can achieve.

Your Deliverable: A new Pinterest or inspiration board with only images that reflect specific items or styles that you like.

Step #2: Consider your lifestyle

So many great home design ideas look beautiful in a photo, but don’t translate to real life. Take another look through this new board of inspirational images and ask yourself, “Would I actually want to live here?”

**And if you have a partner, or kids, or pets, include them too! Consider if everyone would enjoy floral wallpaper or if you really want to try and keep a white sofa clean.

If you answer yes, keep it.

If you answer no, nix it.

The Point: You shouldn’t have to change your lifestyle to have a well designed home. Clear away the inspiration that looks nice but isn’t realistic for you, and instead, focus on ideas that will work for your real life and look great.

Your Deliverable: An edited Pinterest or inspiration board with ideas that will agree with and enhance your lifestyle.

Step #3: Look for patterns

Now you are left with only the good stuff to inspire you. These ideas will be much easier to act on because they reflect the your needs for real life. Give these images a good look and make note of a few things.

Are there any patterns you can see in the images you are saving? Look for repeating things like…

Color schemes

Materials

Styles of furniture

Layout ideas

The Point: Identifying these patterns will help you define the style and look of your ideal space. You are now armed with valuable information that you can act on and translate to your real home.

Your Deliverable: A list of tangible things like colors, materials, and styles that you like and want to bring to life in your space.

Step #4: Make it happen

Now that you have a curated board of inspiration you can act on, it’s time to start fitting the pieces together and design your space.

Here’s a few ways to get started:

Google the terms you identified and start finding furniture that fits the style you want.

Take your curated inspiration board to your favorite retailer. You can use it like you would a grocery list, and compare it to the items they have in store or online.

If you want to get some help from the professionals, most retailers provide some design assistance help that you can work with. Or purchase a Modsy design package and send a link to your inspiration board which our stylists can use to help guide the design and layout of your space.

The Point: Don’t get stuck in the inspiration loop. It’s time to stop getting inspired and start getting stuff done.

Your Deliverable: A shopping list or game plan that puts your ideas into actions.

Need help translating your Pinterest board to reality?

You asked so many great questions this month. Here are our top picks, answered.

I just moved to an apartment in New York City and had to downsize drastically. I’ve cleared out of a lot of stuff, but I find my space just looks stuffed full. Do you have any design tips for small spaces?

There’s no room for clutter when you’re working with minimal square footage! Rather than adding more storage or throwing all your belongings away, rethink the pieces inside your small space.

Stay in the Clear: Create the illusion of an uncluttered space by subbing in glass-top furniture. Hang a mirror for another great way to bounce light around your small space and keep it feeling open and airy.

Sneak in Storage: Look for dual-purpose furniture that keeps its day job and moonlights as an extra place to stash your belongings – like a bookcase in place of a nightstand or a coffee table with interior storage.

Get Leggy: Opt for furniture with legs. Especially with larger items like a sofa, pieces elevated on legs create a sense of openness versus the bulky look of items plopped directly on the floor.

I’ve spent the past few month gathering inspiration for my bedroom redesign and thought I had so many great ideas. I now have 50+ Pinterest boards that I love, but I feel like I am drowning in inspiration. How can I translate my favorite pins to my real-life space?

When you embark on a home design project, it is easy to get stuck in an endless cycle of inspiration. Constantly looking at images of beautiful homes and comparing them to yours, can even become discouraging. Use these tricks to help switch your brain from inspiration mode to execution mode.

Ditch Unrealistic Expectations: Don’t fall into the trap of beautiful lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. Consider the environment along with the actual furniture in the image. Which are you really lusting over?

Move from Inspiration to Aspiration: Take a good look at those hundreds of inspiring home design images and ask yourself what about this image do you like? Would you actually want to live here with your kids and pets? Your answers can help you weed out the purely inspirational images and start thinking about what you actually want in your home.

Find the Common Threads: Now do a scan of the remaining pins. Look for patterns in what you are saving – any trends in color schemes, materials, furniture styles that you seem consistently drawn to. Identifying these patterns arms you with information you can act on and start translating to your real space.

I just moved into a new home and am staring at my empty living room with no idea where or how to start. I have so many ideas, but I just feel paralyzed. How do I overcome this and actually start doing something with my space?

We know that designing a room, or an entire home, from scratch can be a challenge. Like a blank canvas, your new space is full of possibilities – exciting! But that also means you will have to make lots of decisions, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed.

Get Inspired: The first step to your design project will likely be gathering inspiration. Before you dive head-first into Pinterest, take a step back and think about how you want to use the space. If you’re not sure what your style is, take the Modsy Style Quiz. Use the results to guide your search for products that will compliment your tastes and lifestyle.

Lay it Out: Once you have an idea of the kind of style and products you want in the room, start considering your layout options. The best time to plan a layout is before you’ve made any purchases – this is your opportunity to explore if you really want a sectional, or if a sofa will work better and leave room for the reading nook you’ve always wanted. At this point it can be helpful to have a sandbox, like the Modsy 3D Style Editor, to let you try out all your options before you make any commitments.

Build a Foundation: Just as you wouldn’t buy an outfit around a pair of socks, don’t begin designing an empty room around the details. Now that you have a layout and some style inspiration, you can start to look for furniture that fits (physically and aesthetically) into your plan. Once you’ve nailed down the larger pieces, you can begin to think about layering in accent furniture and accessories.

My partner and I are finally moving in together and I couldn’t be happier. We were both so excited until I realized we’d have to somehow stuff our two very different styles into one space. How do we design our home together without one of us hating it or both of us going insane?

First, you should know that you are not alone! This is one of the greatest, yet most unanticipated challenge couples moving in together face. Moving in with a significant other is a big life event, so it’s understandable that it might stir up some anxiety. Before you spend a miserable afternoon fighting over a rug in IKEA, take a step back and consider the bigger picture.

Make a Game Plan: Before you get caught up in the design details, have a conversation with your partner about what each of you value in your home. What do you want to use the space for? What are your must-haves and your hard-nos? And where are you willing to compromise? Hash out these details first and find the points that you both agree on. Then begin to make style choices together that lead you toward this common goal for your home.

Explore Your Styles: The first thing we recommend to couples is that they take the Modsy Style Quiz together. Understanding each other’s tastes can help you think about how to merge them together into one look (yes, we promise it is possible!).

Show off Your Ideas:Create a visual representation of your ideas to show your partner, be that a Modsy rendering of your actual home, a moodboard, or ordering fabric samples and paint swatches. Visualizing your ideas can help you both make more confident design choices, before making any purchases.

Need help sorting out your design struggle?

One of the most notorious design dilemmas our customers face is choosing the right rug for their space. Rugs are an amazing warm and fluffy way to add visual intrigue to any space. They are also expensive and large, and it’s easy to imagine yourself shelling out hundreds (if not thousands!) of dollars only to find you’ve purchased something that turns your room from “hot” to “not.”

A solution for this could be to go out and buy all the rugs you’ve got your eye on, bring them home, and try them out one-by-one in your living room. But if you’re like us and you don’t have endless amounts of money, a pickup truck, and all that time/muscle at your disposal, this isn’t a realistic option.

So here’s the good part. At Modsy we’ve created some amazing technology that lets you try on all the rugs you want, in your living room, without any of that hassle. Along with that, we’ve created this handy-dandy visual guide to help you learn how to pick the right rug for your space.

…The Blank Canvas

Design Dilemma #1: Rug Style

Our eclectic minimal living room is looking a little bare without a rug underfoot. We picked three options that we love and they all seemed to match our style. Here’s what happened when we took them for a test drive:

Moral of the story:

With a more eclectic styled living room, all that pattern from Rug #1 feels overwhelming and busy.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rug #2 didn’t have enough going on and it made the space feel sparse.

Rug #3 is our “Goldilocks” – that sweet spot in between that is simple enough not make the space feel overwhelming but also adds enough texture to spice up our living room.

Design Dilemma #2: Rug Size

Ok now that we know what rug we like, let’s try on some different sizes:

Moral of the story:

A larger rug (we used a 9’x12’) bleeds out past the furniture and overwhelms the space. Having the sofa all the way on the rug, while the chairs dance on and off makes the space visually cluttered and confusing.

The small rug (we used a 3’x5’) gives us a tiny focal point in the middle of the room, and leaves the rest of the space feeling bare.

The middle size (for us, a 8’x10’) is just right. The front two legs of all the furniture are on the rug, creating an intimate “zoned” area in the middle of the room.

Of course, this guide doesn’t cover every possible rug dilemma out there. But don’t panic, Modsy is always here to help you move through your design paralysis and help you create a home you love.